


A Hero Comes Home

by IntotheStarkerVerse (IntotheStarkerverse)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Grail Quest, M/M, Medieval AU, Starker Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 09:03:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19826887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IntotheStarkerverse/pseuds/IntotheStarkerVerse
Summary: For the prompt for Day One of Starker Week...Reunion.A Medieval AU involving a Grail Quest...





	A Hero Comes Home

The Quest for the Holy Grail continued, and it continued without the Red Knight. 

Sir Ironside, as he was called by the peasantry, was famous for his performance in tournaments. He had yet to be unseated a single time, even when he was struck full force by his opponent’s lance. Some blamed magic. Some blamed alchemy. Some claimed it was his skill. In the end, it didn’t matter. The crowds loved the knight whose reputation for his sardonic wit was only outmatched by his renowned tendency towards reckless self sacrifice. He was the people’s champion and the people loved him...even if he did not understand why.

In all of his time at court, though, Sir Anthony of Stark Tower had never taken a true squire. Oh, he had hired a squire who served to help him dress and care for his weaponry, but ‘Happy’ had never had designs upon being a knight. The Red Knight had never been tasked with teaching a young would-be hero the basics of combat and chivalry…probably because chivalry had never been his strong suit.

That all changed the day young Peter came to court.

The boy was smart.

He was quick with observations that escaped the notice of almost everyone else. Everyone but Anthony.

He was brave. 

He walked onto the training grounds and faced other squires several times larger than he was, always without fear. Every time he was knocked down, he pushed himself back up and fought until the knight overseeing the training that morning called an end to the match out of fear for the boy’s safety.

Anthony found himself watching young Peter more than he should. He was so petite, it was a wonder he could lift a sword at all…and the idea of the lad helping a knight don his armor for battle or tournament was laughable, much less the idea of him one day wearing the armor himself. Anthony’s chain mail probably weighed more than the boy did soaking wet.

None of the knights would train him. As other squires were taken on by knights of the court, Peter remained alone. Still, somehow, he never allowed himself to look discouraged. Anthony found that he could not watch the beautiful boy suffer alone any longer.

“Come along, Peter.”

The boy looked up from his work furiously polishing another knight’s armor. “Many pardons, Sir Anthony, I did not realize you needed my assistance…”

“I do not need assistance, boy, but you need a knight and this is me offering.”

Peter’s cheeks took on a rosy hue as he stumbled to his feet and the chest plate fell to the stones with a clatter. “Sir?”

“Did I stutter, boy? You need a knight and I happen to be one. So, come along…we are going to begin by finding you a sword that you can actually lift.”

He would never admit to anyone how much he enjoyed the time he spent with Peter. The boy was so eager to learn. He took ridiculous risks, and more than once Anthony was forced to drag him off the field of battle and bring death upon the bandits or dragons or opposing knights who dared to threaten even a hair on his boy’s head.

Peter devoured every story Anthony told him about his past exploits. He listened with wide honey brown eyes, asking questions whenever the knight paused for breath or dramatic effect, gasping and cheering in all of the right places.

Peter’s brilliance proved to be more valuable than his bravery. When Anthony showed him the lab in which he dabbled in alchemy, Peter was only too eager to join him there as well. Together, they created a metallic alloy that they used to forge a sword and armor that was light enough for Peter to wield while still being sturdy enough to endure an onslaught of attacks from heavy iron weaponry.

For a long time, Anthony pretended not to see the look of longing Peter cast in his direction whenever he thought the older man was not watching him. He couldn’t have him. Couldn’t touch him. Couldn’t even think about how wonderful it would feel to explore every inch of the boy’s nubile young body.

Oh no.

The wizards at Court had determined that purity was needed to access the Holy Grail. These new, young knights were to remain virgins. Chaste. Pure. Good. Then, when they were ready, they would be sent forth to find the Grail and return it to their king. 

It did not matter what lascivious thoughts crossed the knight’s mind as he watched Peter attacking a sparring dummy with a nimble succession of moves that had become his own signature style of combat. Oh no, if the Grail wanted purity and goodness…than Peter was going to be the one to find it.

Anthony tried to hide his disappointment when Peter proved himself ready to join the Grail Quest, when the King knighted him. Anthony did not see the questing party off. The Red Knight wasn’t welcome to join them, because when it came to goodness and purity, everyone knew that Sir Ironside was at a deficit.

Six passages of the full moon.

They were gone for six months.

Anthony felt every day of their quest like a knife to his gut. He spent countless hours in his alchemy lab trying to ignore the fear that had settled over him like a shroud. If Peter died…he would take the boy’s death as his responsibility. He had not taught him enough. He had failed as a mentor. Was the Grail worth risking Peter’s life to attain? Anthony hardly felt that it was.

When the trumpets sounded distantly, barely audible through the thick stone walls, Anthony did not leave his lab to investigate what they were announcing. He hardly cared. He would care about nothing until Peter was safely returned to Court and all was well.

He had no concept of time within the lab. He did not know how much daylight had passed between the trumpets and the soft voice that startled him from the lab’s doorway. 

Peter’s voice.

“Sir Anthony? I thought…I thought you might have been with those present to welcome us home…I should have known you would rather be here.”

Anthony looked up, relaxing for the first time since Peter had left his sight several months ago. “You survived.”

“Yeah, looks like.” Peter glanced down at his hands, then back up at Tony with a flush of pleasure. “We succeeded, too. The Grail. The king has it…”

“I am proud of you, Peter.”

The boy smiled. “Gratitude, my liege. But…that is not why I am here. Or at least, it is not the main reason I am here. If the Grail is ours…we no longer have to guard our virginity. The other Knights have all departed to their chambers with eager ladies of the court…”

“And you came here?” Anthony could not hide his incredulity.

“And I came here.” Peter looked at the man expectantly, head canting to the side slowly. “I…I thought I understood the looks we shared, the words unspoken. Was I wrong…”

His question was cut off as the knight crossed distance between them in a few simple strides. He seized hold of Peter’s waist and dragged him across the floor. Mouths met with a clash of lips. Anthony’s tongue licked against Peter’s mouth as the young man moaned. His fingers clawed at Anthony’s back at the older man’s accompanying growl of possession.

“I have never been so happy to see a quest end.” Anthony’s voice came out in a raspy purr as his lips moved down the creamy expanse of Peter’s throat. One arm reached out blindly, knocking away parchment and instruments from the nearest table so that he could lift the boy and sit him down against the wooden work surface. “There will be nothing pure about you when I am done with you.” 

“Good.” Peter had been dreaming about his homecoming for too long. The entire length of the quest, all Peter had wanted was to find the Grail so he could be free. He had hoped that Anthony would be happy to see him, that they would spend his first few hours home in the throws of passion. Though he’d never been allowed to partake in carnal pleasures before, Peter had spent no shortage of time imagining what it would be like to open himself up to the older man.

Peter’s cries shook the lab several times that night, ringing every drop of chastity from him as Anthony introduced him to a variety of pleasures some of which he had not even dared to dream about before now. He had not known that Anthony could use his lips to set his body on fire in so many different ways, nor that he would enjoy it as he burned. When he was finally fully claimed by the man, they were both exhausted and spent, laying on the floor of the lab before the fire draped in an animal skin rug. “What will we do now, Sir Anthony?” He could not help but ask the question. He was no longer a squire. He could not arguably spend time with the man alone like he once had without arousing suspicion…and there were those who would not smile upon this new facet to their relationship.

Anthony grinned, turning the boy’s hand over in his own before lifting it to his lip to kiss the knuckles. “We will find a quest…one that will take us far from court and require us to adventure for a very, very long time.”

“When we finish that?”

“Another. And then another after that. There are no shortage of quests, Peter, and we will have no shortage of reasons to partake in them. I let you leave my side once…I have no intentions of every allowing that to happen again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, I have not forgotten 'Time of Our Lives' and am hard at work on the final installment. I am just taking a little time off to partake in the prompts for Starker Week!
> 
> Follow me on tumblr: @intothestarkerverse


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